The only way to do intarsia in the round is if the main color is carried through the pattern. For a big flower, that probably wouldn't work. You can duplicate stitch the pattern after you knit the bag. If there's a way you can knit the bag flat, you can use intarsia.

Would it be possible to just go back and forth on the circular needles, knitting "forwards" and purling "backwards" and thereby do it instaria? Or would this make extra rows on the "join" stitches at the beginning/end of each round?

That's a very interesting concept! :thinking: :thinking: It would be worth playing with. Maybe at the end of the round you could cross the first and last stitch of each row? It wouldn't be a normal join, but it would connect the ends. :thinking: :thinking: Very interesting, indeed.